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    Despite trauma being associated with past painful experiences and early childhood dysfunctional events; one can be traumatised momentarily. It’s any disturbing experience that produces an overwhelming and unmanageable emotional response. Relatedly, the traumatic experiences of Christians are not limited to the Nero's persecutions, the beheading of John the Baptist, the killings of Holy Innocents, the mingling of the blood of believers by Pilate or the biblical narratives of how holy people suffer rejection but also includes institutionalised trauma by religious leaders. There is an increasing but disheartening way that some churches weaponize the scriptural injunctions and spiritual obligations to do intense damage on the psyche of their members,”. As a result, there is a breakdown of multiple systems in the idea of a compassionate God that forgives as prophetic utterances, visions and messages spew doom.  Amongst the handlers of the words of God, there are rotten egg...

  A Reflection on THE BATTLE BETWEEN THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE DEVIL by Rev Fr Joyzy Pious Egunjobi A man was caught up in a trance, and there it was revealed to him the Battle between the Righteous man and the Devil. In the course of the battle, there were many rounds of defeats and victories on the part of both parties. Towards the end of the battle, the Righteous man dropped dead. A great voice then echoed from above saying in a loud voice: “You are dead, man; however, you still won the battle” The man in trance then asked in confusion: “How can the defeated man still win the Battle?”  But the voice said to him: “You see! The battle between this man and the Devil delineates the struggle of a Righteous man against his Sinful Nature (Rom 7:15-23). The many times the Righteous man won the rounds depicted the many times he resisted temptations (James 1:12; 1Cor 10:13); and the many times he was defeated depicted the many times he fell into sin (1Tim 6:9). You cannot kill the devil,...

  Have you ever experienced a sudden total darkness? What was your experience? If you can recall, the very moment of sudden darkness shocked you. You may feel a little frightful. Then gradually, you begin to see until you can manage your movement in the very darkness. Such is the life of sinners; from just little sin they graduate into being at home with the total sin. FOR DARKNESS IS NOT NECESSARILY THE ABSENCE OF LIGHT; DARKNESS IS WHEN YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO HIDE. And DARKNESS IS NOT DARK FOR THOSE WHO LIVE IN DARKNESS.  All the lovers of iniquities seek darkness in one way or the other. For example, "The eye of the adulterer waits for the nightfall, Saying, 'No eye will see me.' And he disguises his face. In the dark they break into the houses, they shut themselves up by day; they do not know the light (Job 24:15-16). The dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence (Ps 74:20). "For the morning is their darkest hour, because that is when they hav...

  The Holy Father Pope Francis has always had a special relationship with young people in the Church. He had always wanted to hear from them and help them. Thus, he called a synod of bishops on Young people, the Faith and Vocational Discernment. The purpose of meeting of the Church Fathers and leaders with the young people was to help the Church examine how she can lead young people to recognize and accept the call to the fullness of life and love, and to ask young people to help her in identifying the most effective ways to announce the good news today.  Thus on March 25th 2019, he signed this very rich and recent Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation and addressed it to young people but also “to the entire People of God, pastors and faithful alike, since all of us are challenged and urged to reflect both on the young and for the young.” (CV, 3) Let us take some time now to quickly but carefully examine this 299 paragraphs in 9 chapters document and its relevance to the young pe...

WHAT IS A CHASUBLE?  A Chasuble is a sleeveless outer garment worn by a priest at Mass. It is worn over all other vestments and is made of silk, velvet, or other rich material usually decorated with symbols.  ORIGIN OF THE CHASUBLE  Since ancient times, whenever a priest celebrated the sacrifice of the Mass he would put on a large poncho-like garment called a casula (chasuble) that covered his ordinary clothing. This vestment developed from the ordinary Roman attire of a farmer, who wore the large poncho to protect him from the elements. It eventually became associated with Christians in the 3rd century. As the fashion trends shifted the chasuble ceased to be an ordinary garment but was still used by priests. By the 8th century the chasuble was reserved for clergy members and began to be ornamented in a way that reflected its sacred function. At first the chasuble was large and bulky, and required the help of other attendants at the liturgy to gather the many folds to bet...

  ( This is a major feast of the Catholic Church which replaces even the usual Sunday in Ordinary Time.   It has its own Vigil celebration, one of only six feasts in the Church which include a distinct Vigil liturgy.    ( There is no account of Mary’s death in the New Testament. The New Testament writers were convinced that all believers would share in the Resurrection of Christ.  Catholics, however, believe that the Bible is in part a record of traditions, (first among the Hebrews and then among the Christians) as well as the written word in Scripture.  They hold fast to God’s guiding revelation through ‘Tradition’ as well as through the written word in ‘Scripture’.  ( The Assumption of Mary into heaven is one of the oldest celebrations of Mary. The belief in the Assumption had its origin in the popular faith of the people.  Some legends had also grown up describing the miraculous events surrounding her death, including how the remaining apo...

INTRODUCTION Perhaps you have seen the film: “The gods must be crazy!” a movie shot in South Africa in 1980 the story line began with a family of natives that stumbled at an empty coke bottle. The villagers began to fight over the strange object. Hence a decision must be taken quickly, the once enjoyed peace is gone over a misplaced priority of accepting the bottle, the fascination about, and the quest to unravel the “mystery” behind this strange material plunged Nixau the hero and his children into a search to the end of the world. He crossed roads with Marius Weyers a bumbling scientist and a band of guerrillas who takes a school teacher Sandra Prinsioo and her class hostage.  Along the line the event turned out to be a scattered family that was searching for its member, the result was adventurous encounters and a happy end!  For some of us our misplaced priority may not end very well. Whatever you make your priority today can either make you or mare you. In this article the...

Talk on Human Dignity - Delivered on 18th of July, 2020.  Audience: St. Vincent De Paul Society Members (Divine Mercy Catholic Church, Lekki. Lagos) Dignity is the right of a person to be valued and respected for their own sake, and to be treated ethically. It is of significance in morality, ethics, law, politics and religion. What is "Human Dignity?" The English word dignity comes from the Latin word dignitas, which means "worthiness." Dignity implies that each person is worthy of honour and respect for who they are, not just for what they can do. In other words, human dignity cannot be earned and cannot be taken. No wonder Late Fela Anikulapo Kuti in his song "Beast of no Nation" says "Human right na my property, you can't dash me my property." Human dignity is a sense of self-worth. Therefore, dignity is a sense of pride in oneself that a human being has with them. This conscious sense makes human being feel that they deserve respect and h...

Young Catholic Students are called to resist evil and promote good in their motto "See, Judge and act" because when you nip evil in the bud, you truncate its capacity to full growth. For anyone to allow evil to stay is to have access to full subscription, remember too, whatever you feed will grow. Sin grows, evil grows, and evil people grow from mild sins to severe distortions just as King David started with pornography, developed in adultery, and ended in murder. However, the gospel today seems to have toed a countercultural line of thought that does not support evil to be uprooted as soon as it spotted which cast shadows on moral judgement. While It is striking in the gospel to think weed and wheat must grow together until the harvest; we need to look closely at the profound teachings of Jesus to determine why?  The gospel reading cast Jesus in the role of wisdom teacher using metaphorical techniques to make his points. He presents the farmer as one who demonstrates patienc...